Mediagazer: Statistics and storytelling: the grudge match? (Andrea Pitzer/Nieman Storyboard)

6:25 PM ET, November 20, 2010

Top News:

Palin's publisher sues Gawker over book excerpts — NEW YORK (AP) — The publisher of Sarah Palin's forthcoming book filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media on Friday for leaking pages of “America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag” before its release next week.

Discussion: MediaMemo, Mediaite, Runnin' Scared, On Media's Blog, CNET News, Gothamist, Hot Air and New York Magazine

Keach Hagey / The Politico:

Washington Times editor out — Sam Dealey will be stepping down as editor of the Washington Times, following the sale of the paper to a group led by members of the paper's old guard who were ousted a year ago, sources close to the paper tell POLITICO. — Dealey was informed this afternoon.

Discussion: Romenesko and FishbowlDC

Phil Rosenthal / Tower Ticker:

Tribune Digital pares and prioritizes in reorganization — The reorganization of Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s interactive division, recently rechristened Tribune Digital, is continuing to take shape under its new management and, according to a staff memo sent this morning, under new marching orders.

Discussion: WebNewser

David Brooks / New York Times:

Weekness and Endurance — Just over a week ago, Newsweek announced that it is going to merge with the online magazine The Daily Beast. Since then, cyberspace has echoed with pessimistic commentary about the future of this new entity. After all, why should anyone think that two money-losing organizations …

Discussion: Romenesko

Andrea Pitzer / Nieman Storyboard:

Statistics and storytelling: the grudge match? — Narrative journalism has been dogged for years by the idea that it is too subjective or somehow less capable of conveying hard numbers to the public than a traditional news story. In a world where data mining and visualizations have become …

James Rainey / Los Angeles Times:

On the Media: The battle for NPR's public's funding — (Jennifer S. Altman, For The Times / September 28, 2006) — Republicans, who will control the House, have already tried one procedural gambit, with more likely to come. — “Dignified” is not a word often associated …

Joshua E. Keating / Foreign Policy:

The Autocrat's Algorithm — Is Google News helping to spread propaganda? — On Nov. 18, I used the enormously popular news aggregator Google News to search for information about the Russian alleged arms dealer Viktor Bout, recently extradited from Thailand to the United States.

Lauren Dugan / mediabistro.com:

The National Post: How One Newspaper is Embracing Twitter [Interview] — The National Post is a large Canadian newspaper that's embracing social media as an extension of its newsroom. We had the opportunity to chat with Chris Boutet, the Senior Producer of Digital Media at the Post …

Emily Gould / The Awl:

An Open Letter to Tavi Gevinson and Jane Pratt — First I just wanted to say the same thing that I imagine hundreds if not thousands of people have already said, which is that I am a big fan of both of yours. I've admired the way that Tavi has gracefully handled a lot of flak from jealous haters …

Megan Garber / Nieman Journalism Lab:

Covering a crisis more like molasses than quicksand — How do you cover a crisis that is not a crisis in the way we generally think of one — sudden, frenzied, tragic — but rather a tragedy that builds, slowly, over time? From the BP oil spill to Haiti's pre- and post-earthquake heartbreaks …

Paul Hoffman / Editors Weblog:

Mail Online is 2nd biggest newspaper website worldwide: is Facebook responsible? — It would be tempting to assume, especially given the unsurprising fact that the New York Times website ranks number one in terms of worldwide usage, that all of today's most viewed news websites have sprouted …